UNITED NATIONS INTERGOVERNMENTAL WORKING GROUP TO REVIEW AND FURTHER ADVANCE WORK ON THE DRAFT DECLARATION ON THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF REDUCTION OF ILLICIT DEMAND FOR DRUGS

Vienna, 13-17 October 1997

WRITTEN STATEMENT BY THE TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY (NGO I)

Mme Chairperson,

The Transnational Radical Party believes that the demand reduction of illicit narcotic drugs can be seen as the less contestable of the United Nations' goals regarding drugs. Nevertheless, it is also our opinion that there is the risk of making it an occasion only for rhetorical declarations which will distract the focus from the most important and political points.

In fact, nobody can disagree on the fact that prevent- succeeding in diminishing the demand of drugs - is better than cure - facing the harm inflicted to the whole community. In principle, some consensus can be easily reached on programms focused on prevention, such as public awareness campaigns, development of training materials for parents, teachers and social operators, educational projects as well as other kind of tools created in order to discourage people from getting near to illicit substances. But nobody can be sure of the effectiveness of these types of programms.

The characteristics of illegal consumption of drugs cannot be known easily by public authorities, moreover no one is disposed to be confident in prevention programms, because consumers of illicit substances are treated like criminals and prosecuted all over the world.

Prevention activities encounter overwelming difficulties in entering the illegal context in which drug addicts live. They cannot accommodate to the same language spoken in the "drug world" or the means used in the trade, therefore it is very difficult that they can provide the necessary information and dissuasion about the substances. These problems affect the very purpose of the programms not reaching its targets, particularly young people, that are forced to live in a hidden marginal condition by the prohibitionist laws.

Nevertheless, the Transnational Radical Party welcomes and congratulates some well carried on campaigns for the reduction of the consumption of legal drugs like tobacco in the United States or those against "drunk driving" in the United Kingdom; these initiatives have achieved some relevant objectives. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of other campaigns that targeted illicit substances; we do not have any evidence of the prevention of illegal drugs.

The market of illicit drugs is in the hands of organized crime, and they will continue to use their well-established leverages of the so-called "marketing mix" (made of: price, product and a capillary network of dealers who push for the consumption), to enlarge their horizons rather than advocate awareness. In these conditions dissuasive campaigns of prevention are good only to hush our conscience and not to face the actual problem.

These are the reasons why, after over twenty years, we still insist in advocating a radical revision of the international conventions. The time is ripe for initiating a process of legalization of narcotic substances that today are kept illegal.

As regards the specific goals of the draft declaration on the guiding principles of reduction of illicit demand for drugs, we would like to make the following proposals:

- In the context of the international cooperation, Member States should not transfer personal data from agencies in charge of prevention and treatment programms to the repression authorities. This measures could contribute to enhance the confidence of the population in prevention and treatment projects;

- Governments should limit themselves to the evaluation of programms of demand reduction, letting the direct managing of these programms to the operators "on the field". These measures could contribute in avoiding the growth of a bureaucratic ineffective public system of prevention, far from the very purpose of the projects;

- Freedom of expression, (notably the Internet) should not be questioned for the sake of educating the public on reduction of demand of illicit drugs. Censorship will preclude open debates about drug-related issues and limit the possibilities for the prevention message to be heard.

To conclude, Mme Chairperson and distinguished delegates, we hope that our point of view will be taken into consideration during the drafting of the declaration on the guiding principles of reduction of illicit demand for drugs. We hope that the open attitude shown in the recent "World Drug Report", issued last June by the UNDCP, in which different approaches were considered, will mark the future work of this august body.

Thank you.